1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer-aided circuit design systems, and more particularly to a system and method for evaluating a netlist of an integrated circuit to identify multiplexers.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Integrated circuits are electrical circuits comprised of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and other components on a single semiconductor "chip" in which the components are interconnected to perform a given function such as a microprocessor, programmable logic device (PLD), electrically erasable programmable memory (EEPROM), random access memory (RAM), operational amplifier, or voltage regulator. A circuit designer typically designs the integrated circuit by creating a circuit schematic indicating the electrical components and their interconnections. Often, designs are simulated by computer to verify functionality and ensure performance goals are satisfied.
In the world of electrical device engineering, the design and analysis work involved in producing electronic devices is often performed using electronic computer aided design (E-CAD) tools. As will be appreciated, electronic devices include electrical analog, digital, mixed hardware, optical, electro-mechanical, and a variety of other electrical devices. The design and the subsequent simulation of any circuit board, VLSI chip, or other electrical device via E-CAD tools allows a product to be thoroughly tested and often eliminates the need for building a prototype. Thus, today's sophisticated E-CAD tools may enable the circuit manufacturer to go directly to the manufacturing stage without costly, time consuming prototyping.
In order to perform the simulation and analysis of a hardware device, E-CAD tools must deal with an electronic representation of the hardware device. A "netlist" is one common representation of a hardware device. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art of hardware device design, a "netlist" is a detailed circuit specification used by logic synthesizers, circuit simulators and other circuit design optimization tools. A netlist typically comprises a list of circuit components and the interconnections between those components.
The two forms of a netlist are the flat netlist and the hierarchical netlist. Often a netlist will contain a number of circuit "modules" which are used repetitively throughout the larger circuit. A flat netlist will contain multiple copies of the circuit modules essentially containing no boundary differentiation between the circuit modules and other components in the device. By way of analogy, one graphical representation of a flat netlist is simply the complete schematic of the circuit device.
In contrast, a hierarchical netlist will only maintain one copy of a circuit module which may be used in multiple locations. By way of analogy, one graphical representation of a hierarchical netlist would show the basic and/or non-repetitive devices in schematic form and the more complex and/or repetitive circuit modules would be represented by "black boxes." As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a black box is a system or component whose inputs, outputs, and general function are known, but whose contents are not shown. These "black box" representations, hereinafter called "modules", will mask the complexities therein, typically showing only input/output ports.
An integrated circuit design can be represented at different levels of abstraction, such as the Register-Transfer level (RTL) and the logic level, using a hardware description language (HDL). VHDL and Verilog are examples of HDL languages. At any abstraction level, an integrated circuit design is specified using behavioral or structural descriptions or a mix of both. At the logical level, the behavioral description is specified using Boolean equations. The structural description is represented as a netlist of primitive cells. Examples of primitive cells are full-adders, NAND gates, latches, and D-Flip Flops.
Having set forth some very basic information regarding the representation of integrated circuits and other circuit schematics through netlists, systems are presently known that use the information provided in netlists to evaluate circuit timing and other related parameters. More specifically, systems are known that perform a timing analysis of circuits using netlist files. Although the operational specifics may vary from system to system, generally such systems operate by identifying certain critical timing paths, then evaluating the circuit to determine whether timing violations may occur through the critical paths. As is known, timing specifications may be provided to such systems by way of a configuration file.
One such system known in the prior art is marketed under the name PathMill, by EPIC Design Technology, Inc. (purchased by Synopsys). PathMill is a transistor-based analysis tool used to find critical paths and verify timing in semiconductor designs. Using static and mixed-level timing analysis, PathMill processes transistors, gates, and timing models. It also calculates timing delays, performs path searches, and checks timing requirements. As is known, PathMill can analyze combinational designs containing gates, and sequential designs containing gates, latches, flip-flops, and clocks. Combinational designs are generally measured through the longest and shortest paths.
While tools such as these are useful for the design verification process after layout, there are various shortcomings in the PathMill product and other similar products. For example, there is often a need to identify certain logic gates or particular combinations of logic gates. More specifically, there is sometimes a need to identify combinations of gates that are configured in such a manner that may lead to operational uncertainty or performance problems. By way of particular example, it is generally desirable to avoid designing a circuit, whereby more than one gate drives a common node. Such a configuration usually results in "drive fights" or other deleterious results. Of course, there are exceptions to this general design constraint. Indeed, multiple gates may drive a common node, so long as design constraints are imposed so that (generally) no more than one of the gates will drive the node at any given time.
For example, multiplexers are characterized by a design configuration having a plurality of output gates that are configured to drive a single output. As is known, a multiplexer is a common circuit element that is designed to select among a plurality of inputs, and direct a "selected" input to a single output. By virtue of the logic that comprises the selection circuitry within the multiplexer, the device is configured so that only one gate drives the common output node at any given time.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that is designed to identify (from a schematic or netlist) gates configured to operate as a multiplexer. More specifically, in a system that evaluates a circuit netlist for potential design errors, including a plurality of gates driving a common node, it is desirable to identify gates configured to operate as a multiplexer, and exempt any such configuration from being identified as a design error within the circuitry.
Accordingly, there is a heretofore unaddressed need to provide a design tool that evaluates a netlist or other electronic file representative of an electronic circuit to identify circuit configurations that form or operate as multiplexers.